


I Want You To Stay [16/52]

by andrea_deer



Series: 52 aspec drabbles/ficlets of 2017 [16]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: 52 aspec drabbles, Drinking, M/M, Some Swearing, aromantic jim kirk, enjoy, enterprise runs on gossip, i tried to angst this one but ended up doing mostly crack, it's quite cracky but some angst stayed in, some aromantic angst, that gets resolved happily
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-13
Updated: 2017-10-13
Packaged: 2019-01-17 00:33:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12353727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andrea_deer/pseuds/andrea_deer
Summary: "First of all, Sulu is the king of gossip. Then, shockingly enough, Spock - I blame Gaila, really - then Gaila, Rand, about half of the engineering department, Chapel - and then, maybe me, fair enough."McCoy took a long, steading sip of his drink."Christine will be pissed you put her after the engineers."16th out of 52 aspec drabbles!





	I Want You To Stay [16/52]

"... Okay, let me get this straight: you're upset because you've heard some gossip about Spock going out with someone."

Leonard tried to use his tone to suggest that Jim was being unreasonable. And perhaps unhinged. And that Leonard could handle being a CMO and saving people on a most accident-prone starship in history but dealing with Jim was becoming too much.

Jim ignored that wordless message with a well-practiced ease.

"I'm not upset! I just... don't like it."

Leonard paused. He knew he could nit-pick Jim's words till the end of time or at the very least - the end of the bottle. Jim got both far more careless with his words when drunk and far wordier whenever someone pointed it out. It was a path Leonard traveled many times and rarely enjoyed it, but it was a good distraction tactic if he wanted one.

He sighed and decided to deal with the problem instead which clearly was a sign he was far too good of a friend and also, he should have drunk more.

"Okay," he said slowly, making sure Jim heard how unreasonable he thought this conversation - and Jim - were becoming. "So what? You don't like gossip? You're the king of gossip!"

"First of all, Sulu is the king of gossip. Then, shockingly enough, Spock - I blame Gaila, really - then Gaila, Rand, about half of the engineering department, Chapel - and then, maybe me, fair enough."

McCoy took a long, steading sip of his drink.

"Christine will be pissed you put her after the engineers."

"So don't tell her, you're not on the list, you can stay silent."

Bones sighed if there was ever an opening to cough up... "Yeah, about that...."

Jim squinted at him before his eyes widened comically. He was definitely way past "slightly tipsy" regardless of what he claimed.

"You knew about Spock's date!"

"Well, I-"

"You traitor!"

"Hey!" Leonard shouted, insulted. 'Traitor' was a word far too negative for this situation. There was no need to be dramatic! Unless of course, you were Jim Kirk, an intoxicated Jim Kirk on top of that, in which case - everything was just an excuse to be dramatic.

Between him and Spock Leonard more often than not questioned his life decisions.

"And I had to find out from Cupcake!"

"Wait, Cupcake is where you heard that gossip?"

"Yes! That's why I was more willing to believe it! Cupcake is a great guy for many things -"

"Weightlifting? Cannonballing? Anything requiring mass and brute force?"

"- But he is not the most imaginative one."

Jim frowned and pointed an accusatory finger at Leonard.

"He also makes great cupcakes. Ironically enough. Don't get shifty, you're the bad guy, not him. Here I am, coming to you with alcohol, to drawn my sorrows and you knew all along. That's horrid Bones."

"Are you really angry that-"

"I'm not angry!" interrupted Jim overly loudly before locking his slightly unsteady gaze on Leonard and continuing seriously: "I'm just disappointed."

McCoy groaned in despair and grabbed a bottle, taking it far away from Jim who made a half-whined noise of protest before shrugging it off and contenting himself with what was left in his glass.

"What got your panties in the pitch so hard, Jim? Are you... Are you upset he went out with someone?"

Jim sighed, shifting in his seat.

"You're... I mean, you know there was far more gossip running about the two of you and I-"

"And you know perfectly well I'm not interested in that," Jim said decisively and Leonard breathed slightly easier, nodding quickly.

"So you've said, yeah. Which is why I don't really get why-"

"Because I don't want him to leave! I don't want to date him, but like... I want him to be with me. As a friend. That never leaves," Jim sighed. "Don't look at me like that, I know that's not how it works, I just... I don't know, I enjoyed the time when he wasn't with anyone and it sucks that it's ending."

He shrugged and for once Leonard really didn't know what to tell him. Merely wanting to kick himself for not predicting Jim's reaction to this news.

"Can't I just get drunk about it once?" Jim asked, sounding utterly pathetic.

Leonard considered it for a long moment before shrugging and refilling Jim's glass.

Jim nodded drunkenly his thanks and Leonard very firmly closed the rest of the bottle away in his desk.

"Maybe... Maybe he's not going to leave?" He tried, aiming somewhere between casual concern and hopefulness. "Maybe he's going out with someone he can stay with here, with you..." 

He stumbled, surprised by Jim's slightly muddled gaze focused with uneasy intensity on his face. "What?"

"You know who is he dating!" Jim crowed and Leonard growned loudly. How the hell that kid figured him out so easily while being so drunk? "Bones, please, you must tell me, tell me it's not Uhura. I can't take that yo-yo effect again."

Leonard grimaced with a feeling.

"I don't think anyone can, kid. Not even them."

Jim nodded and then with determination swallowed the rest of his drink in one gulp as if he was getting ready for the execution. He groaned as the cheap whiskey burned his throat but then stilled and nodded again.

"Ok. Tell me."

"Jim, I don't think-"

"Bones, I swear to god, I will be good. I will be so fucking good and supportive, best fucking friend one can ask for, okay? But I need time to mentally prepare myself and I can't just have it dumped on me in front of everyone and Spock, okay? Tell me."

Leonard looked carefully at him and then looked away, his gaze falling on everything but his friend's face. The empty glass - bad move, he should have filled his own glass before hiding the alcohol - his paperwork, pictures he kept on the desk and - Jim kicked him, the annoying child that he was.

"Goddamnit kid, it's not anything that serious, you're running a mile ahead of your horse! It was just one date! And I-"

"Oh my god!" Jim said, his eyes wide and his jaw dropping. "You're the one dating Spock!"

Leonard grumbled under his breath, it was just one date for God's sake, and it's not like they weren't going to tell Jim if something more was to happen, he bloody hated this ship and its gossip mile.

Jim's cheeks looked like they could suffer permanent damage from the drunken, happy grin spreading on his face.

"Oh god, that's not good. Why are you grinning like a pig in the mud?"

"This. Is. Brilliant."

"I don't- Wait, what? Since when? You were just completely upset that someone is dating him, now you're overjoyed because it's me?"

"I can keep you both," Jim said in a delighted yet somewhat creepy voice, grin still huge on his face. Leonard just stared at him for a long while until the smile started to fall and Jim asked uncertainly, his drunk ass sounding like a lost kid and just about breaking Bones' heart in half. "Right?"

Leonard nodded before he even thought about it, though there was hardly anything to think through. Neither he nor Spock planned to abandon Jim. Quite frankly, it was one of the most important pros of dating each other - no one that needed explaining why Jim comes in as a permanent part of their lives.

"Course you do, kid," he smiled. "Course you do- Of for god's sake get off me. Sweet Jesus, no, this is not a hugging occasion, kid you're the worst when you're drunk, you seriously need to cut down. Doctor's orders!"

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [tumblr](http://lordnochybaty.tumblr.com/) or come to my [aspec sideblog](http://acesthetically-pleasing.tumblr.com/) for more aspec goodies :)


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